Means for mounting vehicle wheels



May 5, 1925.

B. M. DENHAM MEANS FOR MOUNTING VEHICLE WHEELS F'i led Feb. 14. 1924 Patented 5,1925. I j v UNITED s'rATEsrATENr OFFICE.

3 1 mm METGALEDENHAM, or LEEDS, ENGLAND.

MEANS ron MOUNTING VEHICLE wrrnnrs.

Application filed February 14, 1924. Serial No. 692,851.

T all whom it may concern! Be it known th'atI, Bnnrnarr Mnrcanr' DENHAM, sub ect of the. King of Great Britain, and resident -of Leeds, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMeans for Mounting Vehicle Wheels, of which the following is a specification. I g I i It is common with motorists to experience considerable difficulty in starting automobile engines of the type wherein a direct i. drive is provided betweenthe engine and the rear axle with the ordin'arydifferential gear interposed, particularly when the en-, gine is in a cold state and when the clutch is bound by the adhesive effect of oil for example, so that the engine cannot be deprived of its load in which event the lifting of one of the rear wheels off theground is frequently resorted to in order to start the engine.

The object of the present invention is to facilitate the starting of automobile engines under such adverse circumstances and for this purpose one ofthe rear road wheels is mounted in such a manner that what is knownas a free wheel action is'permissible of the rear axle by the disengagement of clutch gear which is employed in connection with one of the road wheels normally to secure the said road wheel to the axle, thus obviating the necessity of lifting the said road wheel off the ground.

A constructional form of mounting one of the rear road wheels of an automobile in accordance with this invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing to which reference may now be had in the following detailed description of the device in which similar reference characters relate to like parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the device applied to the ordinary standard axle of a Ford car.-

Figure 2 on the left hand side of the centre line is a sectional end view taken on linea' :0 of Figure 1 whilst on the right hand side of the centre line is a similar view taken on line g y both instances as viewed from the right hand of Figure 1 and Figure 3 a fragmentary detail view. v

Referring now to the drawing instead of the hub flange a carrying the boss 6 on which the road wheel 0 is mountedbeing secured to the tapered end (Z of the axle 6 it is loosely and rotatably mounted on the sleeve f that is secured to the tapered endd of the axle ed by the key 9 or in any other convenient manner.

The end of the boss I) is formed with ,projections'h that constitute one half of a claw or dog clutch, is provided with a gunmetal bush 2' and is rotatable about the sleeve f. The forward end j of the sleeve f is ofsquare .or other suitablesection and slidably mounted thereon is a collar 7: that constitutes the second half of the claw or dog clutch the projections m; of which enter the recesses adjacent to the projections h on the end of the boss I) so that when in engagement as shown in Figure 1 the wheel 0 rotates with the axle e.

.The collar 70 is pressed forward towards the end of the boss I) by the spring a contained within the cup 0'- that encloses the halves of theclaw or dog'clutch. Thiscup 0 is provided with theinternal screw socket '79 that is screwed on to the ordinary standard screw-threaded end g of the axle e and is maintained in its position as shown in Figure 1 by the nut r. Coincident with the annular grooves in the collar his provided in the cup 0 slots 15 of more or less Z-shape as clearly seen in the fragmentary view of the cup 0 illustrated in Figure 3. These slots enable specific movements to be imparted to the collar 7: as hereinafter described whereby the movable half of the claw or dog clutch can be disengaged and engaged at will. i

The cup 0 together with its securing nut 1' is wholly enclosed to exclude dust and dirt by the cap uwhich in the example shown is provided with a pair of bosses 41 into which are fixed operating pins '20 that pass through the slots t into the annular grooves of the collar 70. The outer ends 10- of the pins w serv the purpose of effecting the disengagement of the clutch coupling as will be readily understood.

In the example illustrated as already referred to th device is shown applied to the ordinary standard Ford car axle and the sleeve f is provided with a collar f that rotates'in a recess formed in the hub plate a the keeper or star plate a secured to the hub plate. a by the screws a serving to retain the sleeve f in position within the boss 5.

It will now be understod that in the event of difiiculty in starting the engine as aforesaid it will only be necessary to withdraw the claws m from engagement with the claws h on the boss 5 by taking hold of the operating pins 10 drawing the cap a outwardly rotating same to the right or clockwise as viewed in Figure- 2 so that the' pins w travel 111 the slots t and WltllCllftYV the collar is against the pressure of the spring at the disengagement being assured by the pins 10 resting in the opposite ends of the slots 25 and the engine canlie then readily started as no drag will be imparted to the axle e by the road wheel 0; the bound clutch can then be released and the inverse an axle therefor with a tapered end, a sleeve fixed to said tapered end and rotatably carrying said wheel hub, and a collarslidably mounted on said sleeve and provided with clutch teeth for engaging the clutch teeth on said'wheel hub of'means for effecting the engagement and disengagement of said clutch elements comprising an inner cap sorewed'upon the end of said axle and provided with slots, a spring within said cap bearing against said slidable collar and an outer cap enclosing said inner cap and carrying pins for operating. said clutchelements; said pins op'erativelyengaging with said collar and passing to the exterior through th slots insaid inner cap.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

BERTRAM METCALF DENHAM. 

